Jeffrey Alexander

Jeffrey Alexander specialises in theory, culture, and politics. An exponent of the “strong programme” in cultural sociology, he has investigated the cultural codes and narratives that inform diverse areas of social life.

Alexander’s recent publications include Obama Power, The Dark Side of Modernity, Trauma: A Social Theory, Performative Revolution in Egypt: An Essay in Cultural Power, and Performance and Power. His book The Civil Sphere, published by Oxford University Press, was the winner of the Mary Douglas Best Book Prize from the American Sociological Association and the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Award for Excellence in Sociology and Social Work from the Association of American Publishers. His books have been translated into multiple languages, including German, Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Hungarian, and Japanese.

Alexander currently serves on the governing board of the Yale Programme for the Study of Anti-Semitism. He has been a professor or fellow at many universities and institutes, including the University of California at Los Angeles and Berkeley, Fudan Institute of Advanced Studies, the University of Cambridge, the University of London, the London School of Economics, Konstanz University, Stanford University, the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, and the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton.